Skillet Beef Tips Over Rice
Marinated beef tips seared hard, then vegetables in the same pan, over rice you cooked at home.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Beef tips | 2 lb | marinated at home, kept cold in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce | 1 cup | marinade only, poured off before cooking |
| Honey | 3/4 cup | marinade only |
| Ground ginger | 1 tbsp | |
| Canola oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Bell peppers | 1 red, 1 yellow | cut into strips at home |
| Yellow onion | 1 | sliced at home |
| Asparagus | 1 bunch | woody ends snapped off |
| Snap peas | 1 cup | |
| Cherry tomatoes | 1 cup | |
| Garlic | 1 tbsp minced | jarred keeps fine in the cooler |
| Green onion | 1/4 cup sliced | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Precooked rice | 4 pouches | shelf-stable pouches, no pot of water needed |
Method
- Set a large cast iron skillet over a bed of coals or on a grate and let it get properly hot. You want it past the point where oil shimmers.
- Add the oil. Drop in the tomatoes and roll them around for a minute or two until the skins split, then pull them out.
- Lift the beef out of the marinade and let it drip. Dump the marinade in your gray water; it has raw meat in it. Sear the beef in a single layer, about two minutes a side, and move it to a plate.
- Onion, peppers, and asparagus go in next with more oil if the pan is dry. Two minutes, keep them moving.
- Add the snap peas and garlic and give it another minute or two. Everything should still have some snap.
- Return the beef and tomatoes, toss to warm through, and season with salt and pepper.
- Warm the rice pouches on the edge of the grate or against the hot pan. Serve the stir fry over the top and scatter the green onion.
This is a cooler recipe, not a backpacking one. Two pounds of beef and a bunch of fresh vegetables only make sense when a car is involved, so it lands squarely in car camping or a basecamp where weight does not matter.
The home prep is what makes it work in camp. Beef goes into the marinade in a zip bag before you leave and rides frozen flat, which keeps the rest of the cooler cold. Vegetables get cut at home. Rice comes precooked in pouches so you are not tending a second pot of boiling water over coals. That leaves one hot skillet and about fifteen minutes of actual cooking. Sear the beef and pull it out before the vegetables go in, or the pan temperature drops and everything steams instead of browning.
Packing
Marinate the beef at home in a zip bag and freeze it flat. It thaws over the first day or two and doubles as a cooler ice block. All vegetables get cut at home and packed in one bag so camp prep is opening a bag. Oil goes in a small bottle.
Variations
- Swap the fresh vegetables for a bag of frozen stir fry mix if you are packing a cooler anyway.
- No cooler: use shelf-stable summer sausage or a can of beef and skip the marinade entirely.
- Cook rice in a second pot if you would rather not carry pouches.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/beef-tips-stir-fry